Thread 13. TTC #1 Grads. Some of us still remember that thing called "a full nights sleep" for most, it's a mere memory.

[AudreyBradshaw]

Behold, the wonder of birth! Members from 6 weeks bfp to post-partum wonder Mamas! No question to grotty or minging.

We've come full circle from obsessing about cervical mucus to now obsessing if it's our vagina baby plug going! What larks!

Lots of talk about poo, ours and now babies too! Baby brain is REAL! From morning sickness in the first trimester to the third trimester struggle of getting out of bed ( "walrus-ing"in our house), to actual real babies who are growing so fast! Discussion on the merits of sleepyhead and Ewan the dream sheep.

Sooo many gorgeous babies now! And equally lovely Mummy's! We are amazing! What a year! Can you believe it's been a year since our first tentative TTC thread!? Look how far we've come!

Roll up, literally, in my case, cause I'm practically rotund! for TTC #1 Grads!

jan I used a groswaddle til H was 8lb (about 4/5 weeks I think??) They're plain so you could use one of those until you start shopping for colour when little one arrives? Otherwise blankets are totally fine we also managed without bottles/pump for a few weeks as Harrison was never away from me so you should be fine without!

Grosnug*

Hi everyone,

Feefs I did a bit of batch cooking (would have done more if Alexa wasn't early!) and I try to top up the freezer at the weekends. I've found it really useful for evening meals with DH working long hours.

Nev please don't think you're a failure. Bodhi sounds like he's thriving. I hope you feel better soon.

Audrey I hope things hurry up for you!

Indi it definitely sounds like colic to me. I hope the infacol helps.

Jan we're still using a grosnug here rather than a grobag - it's good for babies between 5-12lbs and you can pop the arms in too. They come in grey and spotty so v neutral. In terms of neutral babygros we got a few with animals on - John Lewis had plenty that weren't blue / pink. I wouldn't bother with a breast pump until you know you can breastfeed as they're a bit of an investment - perhaps have a look and see which you fancy and then you can always use Amazon Prime! I got tommee tippee starter set which includes bottles / steriliser etc. I figured I'd need bottles at some point and I use them for giving A expressed milk.

Canters - Rowan is a lovely name. We have a sleepyhead and love it. I think it's a good purchase!

Things are good here. A is through leap 2 on the wonder weeks and has reverted to a lovely sunny baby again! I'm feeling much more positive about activities and have something planned every day and I feel like I'm making some proper friends

Posted a bit too soon. I was saying that I feel like I'm making proper friends rather than just people to have a coffee with because we have babies,...

Canters - I use nipple shields to feed when I'm at home and then don't when out (too much hassle and I feel daft!) . They've really helped with nipple pain.

Hope all preggos and mums are doing well xx

Jan how are you 32 weeks already?!! That's flown! Re grobag- we have grosnugs and all of ours are gender neutral. R is currently wearing one with penguins on it- we ordered from Amazon. Re breastfeeding- I would get bottles and a breast pump. Dh had to go out at midnight on sat to get a breast pump as I was in so much pain I couldn't bear to keep feeding. 24 hours of feeding off my right boob and pumping from the left and we are back in full working order- invaluable. I don't know if you're aware but small breastfed babies cluster feed which is basically 4 hours of them constantly feeding- what I have found useful is to feed for as long as I can bear then when R is getting fractious top up with 2oz of expressed breast milk. It works beautifully and we are getting so much more sleep! I was so not fussed about bf before having him that I had ready made formula in, however have done a 180 and there's no way I'm giving anything that isn't my breast milk- so if you feel strongly about it now I doubt you'll change your mind!

Soda so glad you're making friends. Also v glad you like the sleepyhead! I tried nipple shields but R finds them highly displeasing and won't latch. Never mind, as above the pump has rescued us!

People with sleepyheads- how do you use them? We're co sleeping now so planning to just put it in the bed, but am also toying with a co sleeper crib, probably the snuzpod- anyone got one?

Cosmo I looked at the rocker but I saw a lot of reviews that said once baby could sit up they could topple it, which put me off

Feef yeh, I was exhausted, then ended up having to fit the fridge freezer and dishwasher on my own yesterday so I'm wrecked again today

I didn't batch cook but then OH does 90% of the cooking in our house.

Glad you're feeling positive after your last physio appointment.
Nev nope, that sounds passive aggressive to me.
Bottle feeding has a lot of perks

Leonie I believe that all formula milk has the same nutritional content and ingredients but the ingredients are in different quantities. From my experience of using 3 different formulas, they have different thickness when made up, the colour and smell is different and I assume so is the taste. I know a lot if MW say it doesn't matter which formula you feed but it's not true, babies generally get on with different formulas better than others. From what I read when Arya was struggling with trapped wind, lots of babies have that problem with SMA and I certainly noticed a difference when I moved Arya to a different formula.

Sorry to hear the bottle feeding isn't going well. I think I'm going to skip my work Christmas party but that because none of my party dresses fit and I'm buggered if I'm buying a new one!

Miley awww... its lovely when they start grabbing things. Arya has started grabbing her cuddly unicorn and pulling it towards her
I'm the same with photos, Arya gets really fed up of having my phone in her face. That one is really cute!

Canters I love the name Rowan

Jan I actually have a few outfits for Arya that are boy outfits mothercare have quite a lot of choice at the moment. I didn't end up using the cardigans I bought. I just put her in long sleeve vests and sleep suits and wrap in a blanket.
I would go with the grobag even if it isn't your style. Baby will probably sleep much better than if you use blankets.

Soda glad you're doing well and making friends.

So, I had a right ordeal with the appliance deliveries yesterday. Rather than repeat myself I've written on my blog about it (www.grumpymum.co.uk) I'm not going to buy from currys again, it's John Lewis all the way!

I've just realised that I haven't brushed my hair in 3 days with Arya, sorting out the appliances, blogging and trying to find work from home, I seem to have just forgotten. I'm going to end up with dreadlocks if I'm not careful!

Morning ladies,
Well Autumn has been SO much better the last couple of days. We've been using dentinox and infacol and it's seems to really help. Also we're coming to the end of her first leap so I think that's helping too.
My friend arrived yesterday to stay for a few days, it's lovely having guests but I've told DH if we have any more kids that we aren't having friend visitors for at least a couple of months after LO is born! I feel myself getting stressed as Autumn is so alert anyway and with a new face and voice in the house she becomes overstimulated which results in her not napping which then brings on the dreaded overtiredness thankfully she had a good nap late afternoon yesterday so wasn't too whingey in the evening.
But just as a word of warning to mum's-to-be I would definitely say to restrict the amount of visitors in the first few weeks especially if you live far from home and they have to stay a few days at your house.

Oh also, does anyone find that infacol/dentinox gives their baby constipation? Autumn has been straining a bit through the night and this morning and just wondering if it's bunged her up a bit?

We have Autumn's 6 week GP appt today, hoping that he says she is the perfect healthy little baby that I think she is

Miley Harrison is adorable. I'm also one of THOSE mums that takes a million pics a day of their baby I think it's part of the job!

Soda lovely to hear you're making real friends. I go to baby massage and it's lovely to speak to the other mums but I don't know if we have much more in common than babies atm.

Canters Rowan is a great name! I also thought that telling Autumn's name would 'out' me as it's so unusual but I'm not bothered now. As you say, everything I've said I would say IRL too
Also we love our sleepyhead. We go between putting Autumn in the sleepyhead in between us in bed or the Moses basket next to my side. I think she's starting to get a bit big for the sleepyhead though and she likes to sleep with her arms by her head so the Moses seems better atm. The sleepyhead is great for daytime naps in their big cotbed too!

Potato i didn't get a chance to brush my teeth until 3.30pm the other day. It was a bad day...

Indi I use both infacol and dentanox and haven't noticed any constipation.

Lol at the teeth brushing.

I'm feeling a bit down at the moment. OH has been having a few mood swings, I know why and I understand but it seems like it doesn't matter what I do, he finds something to criticise I feel like I can't do anything right and it's really getting me down. It's not his fault as there are extenuating circumstances but it doesn't make it any easier to take.

indi I feel like we we are completely on the same page here! Harrison has also calmed down the past day or so after using infacol regularly! He also doesn't nap as he's so nosy so I have to put him in his sleepyhead in a darkened room with ewan on for him to go down or he becomes devil reincarnated! I also thought Harrison was constipated with infacol as he usually has a poo every day or 2 but went 5 days! When he did go it was still the usual runny poo but it was enormous quantities!!! He filled 2 nappies in about 30 mins - we had to dunk him in the bath after 2nd poo.

potato you should tell your OH how he's making you feel. It doesn't matter that he's having a bad time it doesn't make it OK to make you feel down too!

soda yay to making real friends! I'm going to start going to a 1st time mums group on thursdays. I have a few people round me with similar aged bubs but I'm finding that they're not wanting to actually go out and do things for fear of feeding in public!!

Miley Autumn is exactly the same! The room needs to be pitch black with white noise on, she'll only then self settle herself. If she falls asleep on me she's ok in a light/noisy room though Autumn usually poos a few times a day! So maybe it's just her metabolism maturing, I'm going to just keep the infacol for afternoons/evenings though as that's when she turns in to colicky devil child

Potato sorry but just because your DH is having a tough time atm doesn't mean he should take it out on you. Have a talk with him and tell him how you're feeling? It's not fair to make you miserable.

Oh and I shouldn't have worried about constipation..OF COURSE as soon as Autumn was on the doctors table she did a massive poo, I should've known she'd wait for the most awkward time.. everything else was perfect and she's just under 91st centile for height and 75th for weight, she's getting to be a big girl

Rowan is a lovely name canters.

We have also bought some gender neutral grosnugs and grobags jan it's worth a look around, we got ours in John Lewis ( have vouchers). Other people have bought us white stuff but we've bought lots of yellow, green, grey and red stuff that's not really gendered.

I got a second hand breast pump from a close friend whose breast feeding didn't work out.

Thanks soda I'm on it

Ugh we bought from currys too potato and they were a nightmare for us too!!

Glad Autumn is feeling better indi. When you're co-sleeping what do you do with your duvet?? Sorry if it's a stupid question haven't looked into it much. We have a sleepyhead and snuzpod ready

Gah pressed send too sooon!

Hope OH cheers up soon potato any chance of getting someone to look after arya and give you both a night to catch up and have a date? Might help?

That's a shame isn't it miley about the feeding and not going out! I'm going to have to brace it early on I think to stop it becoming a big issue for me.

Sorry indi but that did make me laugh about autumn and her big poo!! Sounds an excellent weight and height!!!

Did a one else get increasingly irrational as their due date got near? No news or action yet to report. But I am get to more and more grumpy/laughter.

Sorry you're have a tricky time with OH potato it's awful when you can't do anything abiut their mood and they inadvertently take it out in you.

canters Rowan is a lovely name. So pleased you're having such a lovely time with your new baby boy. What a blessing.

Sorry to hear about the UTIs Fishy that sounds miserable, hope you're shot of them soon. Did you have recurrent UTIs before pregnancy?

Lovely to hear things are going so well Canters, Rowan is a lovely name too!

That's great that you are feeling like you are making proper friends Soda ! Must be a relief.

Hope things get moving for Audrey soon!!

Sorry to hear you're feeling a bit down Potato, can you have a chat about it? Date night sounds like a good idea if possible

My DH is stressing me out a bit at the moment too, I think he's putting himself under a lot of pressure with all the work he's doing on the house etc and is refusing to put any more than the bare minimum out to a builder to help (we can afford to get a builder to do some of it, he just wants to/feels like he should it all himself). My parents have offered lots of help too but he doesn't like/isn't used to accepting help (as you might remember he's come from a very shall we say 'hands off' family so isn't used to people getting involved and wanting to help). It just means that I feel like everything is constantly a bit stressy and we're always rushing around everywhere and have no quality time together anymore. He's admitted feeling quite anxious at the moment but says that's just the way it has to be It's just important to me that we enjoy this time together now, enjoy the pregnancy together if that makes sense... I don't know if I'm being unrealistic?! I just feel like we haven't had a laugh together or relaxed together in weeks and weeks.

I imagine things with his family aren't helping, although I haven't brought it up in any way (still no contact from even his mum let alone sisters other than a few texts to DH about Christmas plans)...

In other news it is 20 week scan tomorrow so that's exciting, hopefully we can manage to enjoy it together. Good point on being able to find out the sex after if we change our minds May! We'll see what tomorrow brings but think we will stick with vanilla.

Good luck with the scan tomorrow marmite

Canters - re sleepyhead - Alexa sleeps in it at night inside the next2me crib. I also find it really useful during the day as I bring it into the lounge and it's somewhere safe to put her down.

Potato really sorry to hear you're feeling down. Re bouncer recommendations - we have the baby bjorn. It's pricey but brilliant. Alexa has started to really like it the last few weeks now she's taken an interest in the toy that comes with it.

Feef in the morning I often bring Alexa into bed with me once DH is up. She's in her gro snug so I pull the duvet right down and out her way so there's no danger of it going over her.

Marmite - it doesn't sound unrealistic to enjoy your pregnancy together. I look back on mine really fondly I seem to have forgotten all about the huge cankles Try to do lots of nice things the two of you while you can. And enjoy the scan - it's a really lovely one and it's amazing how much more you can see compared with 12 week scan!

Ooh massive good luck for tomorrow marmite are you being seen at Salford royal? Or did I imagine that and you're St Marys? I can totally see both sides re: finding out/not finding out. I've really enjoyed not knowing, it's done dh's head in am impatient as balls though to know now though!

Washed my pink ugg boots in the washing machine...stuffed them with paper and stuck them on the radiator next to a white wall. It looks like there's been a blancmange based homicide, pink dye ALL OVER THE SHOP! I'm elbow deep, I look like I've been fisting a moomin!

Oh my god, I'm so GRUMPY! I'm never grumpy! I am spectacularly pissed off with absolutely no reason to be at all. Except tiredness possibly. Bloody hormones.

Audrey - I am permanently grumpy. And tearful. I don't feel myself at all, I am usually pretty laid back and low maintenance.

Thanks to everyone for the advice on grosnugs, will look at getting one (two??). Will keep breast pump in mind, might get one nearer to my due date and also get amazon prime!

Ooh, almost due date time Stardrey! I'm guessing boy, and hoping s/he comes soon! And that the grumpy passes soon. And the moomin fisting forearms magically disappear.

Enjoy the scan Marmite! It was by far one of my most fondly memorable preggo moments.

I guess I'll add a grosnug to my shopping list. I thought I was almost done shopping, and managed to buy like 90% of baby's possessions this month, despite having my debit card stopped. I remember thinking we'd buy a few things a month to help with budgeting. Well. That was a spectacular fail!

Health visitor comes tomorrow! I have to scrub out like every mug we own, as OH managed to put them in the dishwasher and screw it up, as they never came out clean. I've been lazy and keep putting them back in, but the tea stains persist. She'd better want a cuppa after I get up early and get some elbow grease out in the morning.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Right, well, it's been my due date for 13 whole minutes and I've not had a baby yet! Hmmm! Hoping it will be one of the timy percent who actually arrives on its due date! Come ON baby! Just let me have a nap first!

May and jan I use grobags. I was going to get grosnugs for first few weeks but held off as I was expecting a big baby and Bodhi was too big at birth to have gone in one. Just a heads up.

Indi glad Autumn is feeling better.

Potato sorry you are feeling crap. I would say talk to your OH but I am the queen of bottling everything up. You really should talk to him though...

Canters Rowan is a lovely name. I thought the same about name sharing as I have never met another Bodhi but sod it.

Bods slept 10-5.20 last night! So impressed with the little lad. Daytime naps are improving and I think they are helping his night sleept too. He hasn't pood since yesterday morning which doesn't sound a problem but he is a 4/5 a day baby still and they are all normaly big ones so I am dreading the poonami when it does come. Am holding him in bed slightly afraid for myself and the covers. We need to leave the house by half nine this morning for a 45 minute drive you can bet he will save it till then haha!

Audrey keeping everything crossed for you that baby gets a move on!

Hahaha Audrey fisting a moomin!!!! Happy due date!
I'm at Wythenshawe, I was umming and ahhing between Wyth and St Mary's as I was given choice and am basically equidistant.

Guys I've just fallen down the stairs before leaving for work in a hurry, I slipped down a few stairs on my bum/lower back but took most of the impact on my elbow trying to catch myself (bloody sore!) I'm rhesus negative, is this enough of an impact/fall to cause concern that id need an anti D injection does anyone know?! I've got my 20 week scan this afternoon anyway.... will it be ok to just mention it then? I just got such a fright think I've got myself all in a flap.

Hope Hv goes well May

Good work on the the sleeping Bodhi!!